


me for you

by neoragodestiny



Series: the me that belongs to you (genderswitch au) [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, genderswitch AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28353483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neoragodestiny/pseuds/neoragodestiny
Summary: genderswitch!au. In which Jihoon doesn't realise her long-time suffering best friend, Seungcheol, is in love with her, and she keeps stepping on Mingyu's toes to stop him trying to make a move on Minghao.warnings: girl!jihoon, girl!junhui, girl!minghao, girl!seungkwan
Relationships: Boo Seungkwan/Chwe Hansol | Vernon, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Kim Mingyu/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Series: the me that belongs to you (genderswitch au) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/923232
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> crosspost of the first part of my genderswitch au. 
> 
> don’t ask how this came about. I woke up from a nap with the image of girl!minghao showing off her dress and twirling into mingyu and then this happened.  
> I have never written genderswitch before so i’m sorry that this is awful, i just had a huge case of _feels_  
>  Title from pretty u by seventeen (in gdocs it is affectionately titled “that genderbent fic”)

“Choi Seungcheol. Where are you.”

It's not so much of a question anymore. Those words sound more like what will be printed on his gravestone.

“I swear, I'm on my way, Jihoon, I had to help mum with something and there was a broken down truck on the main street - “

“YOU LIVE A STREET AWAY FROM ME.” 

“Did you or did you not ask me to get chocolate on the way?” Seungcheol answers calmly

He hears Jihoon sigh heavily. “Hurry up, I'm getting bored.”

“THE Lee Jihoon? Bored of study? Is that even possible?”

“Another word, and I won't open the door for you, Seungcheol.”

“Hey, would it kill you to call me oppa once in a while? I mean, I know we've known each other for ages, but I’m still a year older,” Seungcheol mutters as he makes the turn off the main street.

“Seungcheol-oppa,” Jihoon says in a voice is so sugary sweet, Seungcheol feels sick in the stomach, “if you don't hurry up, I'll rig your car to explode, okay?”

And then she hangs up.

Seungcheol arrives a solid half hour later because there was a broken traffic light, and all the damn cars speed through that intersection, and then he had to help that old lady cross the busy road and - 

Jihoon is going to murder him and display his head from a spike outside her window.

He knocks on the familiar front door with a heavy sigh, accepting his fate. The door opens to Jihoon’s mother.

“Oh, Seungcheol-ah, hello,” she beams brightly and Seungcheol smiles back warmly, greeting her. “Jihoon is just in her room,” 

Seungcheol smiles, compliments her latest stew that she brought over for his family a few days ago, and shows her the chocolates he bought before taking the stairs two at a time.

Now he's worried. If Jihoon didn't leave her room to open the door for him, she's probably prepared something awful - 

Seungcheol knocks on the door and pulls away to hide. When it doesn't open, and there's no angry voice telling him to go away, Seungcheol nervously twists the door handle, peeking inside. He glances above his head, but there doesn't seem to be anything about to fall on him. A glance in the room also makes everything seem clear, so Seungcheol takes a chance and opens the door properly.

Nothing happens.

Seungcheol scans the room and then realises why.

Curled up in the middle of her large King sized bed, is Jihoon. She's practically swimming in the giant jumper, one cheek on a sleeve that hides her hands. Like a sleeping kitten, Seungcheol thinks. Her reading glasses she hates wearing are still perched on her nose, slightly askew from her sleeping position.

Seungcheol slowly steps up to the bed and smiles gently. She looks so peaceful like this, curled up like a cat on her huge bed, surrounded by books and pens and paper.

Seungcheol goes over to the windows and closes the blinds, making the room darken. He packs up her books - making sure to keep them in their groups according to subject, because she hates anything out of order.

When everything is neatly stacked on her desk, he slowly reaches over to pull her glasses off her face, placing them on the bedside table. Smiling to himself, Seungcheol gently scoops her up - she's so small and light in his arms - to tuck her into bed.

She stirs a little when he picks her up, but only responds by curling closer to him, face pressing against his chest. Seungcheol tries not to linger there, despite just wanting to keep holding her, cuddle her in a way he knows she’d hate.

He tucks her in, making sure the blanket is secure around her shoulders. He leaves the chocolates on her desk by her books and closes the door softly behind him.

“Leaving so soon, Seungcheol?” Jihoon’s mother says as Seungcheol says goodbye to her from the kitchen. 

“Jihoon’s asleep,” he says with a small smile. “I'll see her tomorrow, for soccer.”

Then he kisses Jihoon’s mother goodbye and drives the familiar street back to his house, mind filled with thoughts of a certain girl who sleeps like a kitten that he’s known almost forever.

Seungcheol hears the scoffs as soon as they arrive at the soccer field, the opposite team of boys in red jerseys sneering at their group of what looks like misfits. Seungcheol sees Hansol step in front of Seungkwan a little, as they walk past the other team to their allocated bench. Jihoon is pointedly ignoring them, just fixes her ponytail of platinum blonde hair and stretches calmly.

As they step onto the field and greet each other, the other team’s captain, shaking hands with Seungcheol last, asks, "Is the girl your goalkeeper?

"There's no restrictions on gender in these games," Seungcheol says simply. The guy smirks.

"No, there isn't," and that's all he says, snickering, as he goes back to his team, red jerseys spreading out.

Jihoon is carefully blank faced, but Seungcheol knows she heard. He just smiles. Nothing fuels Jihoon's anger more than being underestimated, especially for being a girl (or for being short).

Seungkwan lets out a supportive cheer before the referee is blowing his whistle to start the game.

The other team is good, dodging and weaving competitively, despite it being a friendly game. Jihoon easily blocks their attempts at goal though,and Seungcheol can see them getting frustrated. He grins. Half an hour into the game, Mingyu scores a goal and Seungcheol envelopes him in a huge hug.

At half time, they’re still 1-0. As defender, Seungcheol is just trying to keep them from getting too close to the goal. But on one occasion, they’re going for a goal and Seungcheol gets tripped up. The referee is too busy to notice, so he just grumbles, wipes the dirt from his shins and gets back up, in time to see their striker going straight for a goal, and Jihoon.

Jihoon has raced forward, trying to grab the ball before they can have a good chance at goal. The striker doesn’t seem to care, and as Seungcheol yells out to her, the striker kicks. At the same moment Jihoon dives for the ball, and it spins straight into her face.

Jihoon lands where she had dived, but rolls onto her back from the force of the ball and stays completely still.

Jihoon opens her eyes to a splitting headache and the world spinning. There’s a hand running through her hair gently.

She blinks and tries to focus. The face of Seungkwan swirls into view.

“Seungkwan?” she mumbles.

“Unnie,” Seungkwan says, and the hand stops for a moment before continuing again. “How are you feeling? Don’t get up, you got a concussion from that ball to your face.”

“Ball to face?” Jihoon mumbles. “Oh, the guy going for goal. No wonder I feel awful,” she groans.

Seungkwan nods, her brown curls bouncing a little. “The guy got a red-card. Seungcheol-oppa is goalkeeper now.”

“I hope he still remembers what I told him,” Jihoon grumbles. “The idiot can’t remember algebra to save his life, so I don’t have much faith.”

Seungkwan laughs. “You’re so mean to him, unnie.”

“If I don’t keep him in check, no one will.”

“You sound like his girlfriend. It’s no wonder everyone thinks you’re going out.”

“He’ll be lucky to find a girl who would put up with his stupidity,” Jihoon mutters. She sighs. “Or accept our friendship.” For Seungcheol has had several girlfriends before, except most of them broke up with him because they couldn’t understand their friendship. “Me or her?” was often the question asked, and Seungcheol never gave up Jihoon.

Seungkwan barely waits a second before she says, “So a girl like you?”

“Seungkwaaan,” Jihoon groans. “Please not you too,”

“Really though, unnie, you don’t have feelings for him?” Seungkwan asks.

“Why would I like an idiot like him?” Jihoon rolls her eyes. “Besides, we would never work like that.”

“Why not?”

“We’ve been friends for so long, Kwan, you don’t just change like that. It doesn’t work.”

Seungkwan pouts, her full cheeks rosy. “Why not? Hansol and I were friends for a long time too, and we’re doing fine.”

“I - ” Jihoon splutters. “I didn’t mean it like that, Seungkwan-ah.” She sighs. “You and Hansol are different to Seungcheol and I.”

“How?

Jihoon thinks for a moment. “You and I, for starters, we’re different, Kwan. You actually act like a girl, a girlfriend, so you and Hansol can work like that. Me?” she laughs softly, almost bitterly, “People don’t see me as a girl, so I can never be someone’s girlfriend.”

“Seungcheol-oppa sees you as a girl,” Seungkwan replies.

Jihoon snorts. “You’re kidding right? He’s the last person to see me as a girl.”

A pause. “Soonyoung-oppa did,”

Soonyoung was Jihoon’s first date, in their final year of high school.

Jihoon smiles ruefully. “Yeah, he did. But I wasn’t the right person for him,”

“Why not?” 

Jihoon just sighs and closes her eyes. “I’m going to rest a bit more.”

“Don’t think you’re avoiding the question, unnie. I’ll ask you later,” Seungkwan warns.

Jihoon just chuckles, eyes still closed, and lets herself drift into the darkness.

Their team ends up winning, Seungcheol successfully blocking all other attempts at goal. But instead of joining in on the celebratory group hug, he just runs over to Seungkwan and Jihoon on the benches. Jihoon is still lying on Seungkwan’s lap, dried blood still visible above her lip from the blood nose.

“How is she?” Seungcheol asks. 

Seungkwan gives him a small smile. “Woke up, complained about feeling awful, insulted you. I think she’s fine,” she says and Seungcheol smiles tiredly. It does sound like Jihoon. He’d be worried if she said something nice about him.

Hansol jogs over, floppy brown hair falling against his forehead. He gives Seungkwan a look, clearly asking something, because she smiles and nods, and he returns the smile.

Seungcheol sighs softly. “I should get her home. Her mother is already against these weekly soccer matches; a concussion is going to be fun to explain.”

Gently he reaches out and picks her up, cradling her head against his chest.

“Hansol, can you help me take the other stuff?” Seungcheol asks, already walking off, not even looking back. He keeps watching Jihoon in his arms.

Hansol just exchanges a look with Seungkwan, hides a smile, and jogs after Seungcheol with the bags in hand.

They strap Jihoon into the front seat and pile the bags into the back, and then Seungcheol waves as he climbs into the driver’s seat and drives off. Hansol watches them go as Seungkwan runs to his side, Mingyu with her.

“Cheol-hyung left?” he asks. Hansol nods.

“Jihoon-unnie thinks Seungcheol-oppa doesn’t like her,” Seungkwan says softly. “Though I’m pretty sure she likes him.”

Hansol tries to hide a smile as Mingyu scoffs. “Well, he’s still in denial about it, so they’re both as stupid as each other,”

“At least they match that way,” Hansol says. Seungkwan giggles and he looks at her fondly. 

Mingyu makes a face. “Why am I surrounded by couples everywhere?” he groans.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> reference pictures:
> 
> [Jihoon](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ee/1d/0b/ee1d0b020b6826e5e81fa9bd32e8c42b.jpg)  
> [Minghao](http://zomanz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/flowy-white-dress-2710.jpg)  
> [Junhui](http://picture-cdn.wheretoget.it/r64kht-i.jpg)

Jihoon huffs, arms crossed over her chest as Mingyu coos at her for the third time.

“I am not cute!” she huffs, almost stomping her foot.

“Noona, your hair now has pink streaks, I don't think you can talk,” Mingyu grins.

Jihoon sulks. “Why did I listen to you?” she turns to ask Junhui for the second time. 

“Because it’s cuteeeee,” Mingyu coos, eyes twinkling. 

Jihoon looks so ready to bite his head off, Seungcheol quickly reaches over to put a hand on her head, pulling her back just enough that she can’t reach Mingyu. 

“Okay, calm down there, let's not kill Mingyu before he has his first kiss.”

Junhui turns to Mingyu in surprise, a smirk blooming on her face. “You haven't had your first kiss yet?” Junhui asks. Mingyu realises he should be just as scared of Junhui-noona as Jihoon-noona.

So he whines to Seungcheol instead. “Hyuuuuung, why'd you have to go and say that?”

Seungcheol raises an eyebrow at him. “Because I just saved your ass from getting beat by Jihoon. Again.”

The first time Jihoon met Mingyu, she gave him a blood nose. To be fair, Mingyu had called her little.

Mingyu had turned up to their soccer training, after an invitation from Seungcheol in their maths tutoring class in tenth grade. He had been surprised to see a brunette with blonde streaks in her hair standing amongst all the boys. Seungcheol had introduced her as Jihoon, and Mingyu had asked if she was his girlfriend. Jihoon had scoffed, Seungcheol had explained Jihoon was their goalkeeper, and Mingyu had replied with the fateful words: 

“But hyung… she’s so… little!”

And so, Jihoon responded by throwing the soccer ball under her arm at his face.

Ever since, Mingyu has always been a little afraid of the short girl who always seemed to be by Seungcheol’s side. Like right now, she’s laughing hysterically next to him, like she takes pleasure in his fear. 

So he takes the best revenge he can.

“Well you two took each other's first kiss!” he yells, pointing at the two of them.

And that shuts them up.

Junhui looks very amused at all the new information she's learning, especially taking in the two bright red faces of Seungcheol and Jihoon.

“It was an accident,” Jihoon mutters defensively. “Truth or dare in our final year of high school. I got dared to kiss his cheek, but the idiot turned to asked me something at the last second,”

“Accident,” Junhui echoes, glancing at Seungcheol, and smirking. “Suuuuuure.”

Jihoon is scowling. “The point of coming here today,” she grits out, “was to make sure you guys know the dress code for tonight,”

“Tonight?” Mingyu asks.

“The Spring Street Ball? It’s tonight,” Jihoon says. Mingyu’s mouth falls open and Jihoon sighs.

The Spring Street Ball was a fancy dinner for all the people who worked on the shopping strip on Spring Street. Jihoon worked part time at one of the cafes owed by a couple named Jisoo and Jeonghan, along with Junhui, and another girl called Minghao. Mingyu had laughed when he heard and said that Minghao must feel out of place to be the only one who didn’t have a name starting with J. Jihoon had been incredibly unimpressed and Junhui had rolled her eyes.

Seungcheol and Mingyu worked at the local sports store part time, a few stores down. Sometimes Jihoon could be seen waiting outside the store for Seungcheol to finish, so he could give her a ride home, even though it was within walking distance of their houses. (Once, Jihoon had walked home instead of waiting, and Seungcheol had thrown such a fit about safety and how it’s dangerous for her to walk alone at night, Jihoon had agreed not to do it again, simply because she “didn’t want to see Seungcheol more agitated than her mother”.)

“I thought they said there’s no theme,” Seungcheol says while Mingyu still seems to be grappling with the information that the ball is tonight.

Jihoon sighs. “Officially, there isn’t, but supposedly all the owners agreed that they’d do some ‘black and white’ thing - boys in black, girls in white.”

“What if I have a suit with a white shirt?” Seungcheol asks.

Jihoon shrugs. “Don’t know. Figure it out yourself, that’s what I was told. Just wanted to make sure you guys knew. We’re going to go get ready now.”

“It’s like.... three,” Mingyu states. The ball isn’t for another four hours.

Junhui smirks. “We’re girls. Don’t you know we have secret meetings while we get ready, hours beforehand?”

And with that, she puts her arm around Jihoon’s shoulder and steers her down the pathway again. Jihoon waves.

“What kind of meetings?!” Mingyu calls after them. Seungcheol hits him over the back of the head.

“Hey, Cheol. Have you seen Mingyu?”

Seungcheol turns around to answer Jihoon and takes such a sharp intake of breath, he almost feels dizzy.

Jihoon is dressed in a white dress, like everyone else, but why does she look so beautiful? (He smacks himself mentally.) It's short, only reaching mid-thigh, and the sleeves are long, like all those oversized sweaters she always wears. There’s material in a ‘x’ shape across her clavicles and she’s wearing a flower crown of little white flowers in her hair, a small sparkly silver purse in her hand that’s resting on his arm.

“Seungcheol?” she blinks at him and he thinks she’s so damn beautiful he could kiss her.

_Where did that thought come from?!_

“I, uh, what, sorry?” he splutters. She raises an eyebrow at him and that’s more like the Jihoon he knows, but gosh, he wonders what make-up she’s wearing, because she looks like a doll.

He hasn’t had enough alcohol to feel this dizzy.

“Mingyu, have you seen him? Didn’t he come with you?” she asks. He sees Minghao and Junhui appear behind her, Junhui in a short, almost daring white dress with thin straps, and Minghao in a dress with frills at the bottom and a pretty bow at her chest.

“No, he, uh, went home first,” he says, finally ceasing his gawking to look over her head to see if he can spot their giant friend. If Mingyu was here, Seungcheol would be able to spot his head towering over everyone else.

“Hey, I know I’m short, but you don’t have to remind me,” she mutters, shoving at his shoulder and he grins at her, finally noticing the small silver heels on her feet. Seungcheol is about to answer when the someone starts talking into the microphone, saying they’re going to start the speeches so that they can get the party started.

Seungcheol grins as he leans over to speak in her ear. “So long as you don’t step on me with those heels, we’re good,”

Jihoon shoves at his shoulder before turning her attention to the stage. Seungcheol gestures for Minghao and Junhui to go in front of him too - since he’s the guy and taller, though only by a little bit with their high heels.

Minghao beams brightly and Junhui gives him a smirk that he doesn’t understand, but they move to stand in front of him and Seungcheol stands behind the three of them, like some sort of bodyguard. He doesn’t mind though, just fixes a stray strand of Jihoon’s soft hair and looks to the stage when she turns to look at him.

After the speeches, the girls all go to the bathroom and Seungcheol stays to watch the table and to wait for Mingyu, because their friend is late, or lost, or both. Seungcheol sighs.

On the way back to their table, Minghao is giggling and spinning and twirling, making the material of her dress swish out.

“Really, ah, the dress,” she struggles for the words and Jihoon and Junhui wait patiently. “It’s so light,” she eventually says, giggling as she twirls, the skirt of her dress spinning out into a lovely circle. Junhui smiles warmly, and Jihoon beams.

“It really is flowy,” she says. “It really suits you.”

“Does it?” Minghao giggles as she twirls again, but Jihoon doesn’t even have time to cry out a warning, before Minghao crashes into someone and almost falls over, if not for large warm hands grabbing her arms to steady her.

“Whoa, careful there, you - ” and then he stops.

Minghao goes red and hastily pulls away to brush her hair from her face and bow in apology.

“Hao, are you okay?” Junhui asks immediately, grabbing her arm, steadying her.

“I, uhm,” Minghao blinks hurriedly. She nods, mumbles something to Junhui in Mandarin and then Junhui is pulling her away, the two of them disappearing into the crowd.

Jihoon stares after them both, barely comprehending what just happened, but then she turns to the guy.

“Hey, doofus, nice way to make an entry,” she says as she punches his arm.

“Ow, noona!” Mingyu protests, rubbing his arm and pouting. 

“You’re late, you deserve that.”

“Noona, who was that?”

Jihoon tilts her head and stares at him. “Who?” she asks, because Mingyu has met Junhui. “You mean Minghao?” 

Mingyu’s eyes are suddenly shining as he looks into the crowd where the two girls had disappeared. Jihoon recognises that look immediately.

“Oh, hell no,” she says as she steps on his foot, hard. She was kind enough to not use the heel part.

Mingyu yowls and gives her the kicked puppy look, but it’s been four years. Jihoon is immune.

“Noonaaaaaa,” he whines.

“No, Kim Mingyu. I know that look, and don’t you dare,”

“Noona, please, she’s so pretty, just let me talk to her,” Mingyu says, and Jihoon has her arms crossed over her chest and is glaring up at Mingyu from her short height.

“No, absolutely not.”

“Noona, come onnnnn, she’s so cute, I just want to talk to her - ”

“Just talk to her? Kim Mingyu, you will break her heart, and if you so much as go near her, I will roast you for dinner and serve you in slices,”

“Please don’t,” Seungcheol says, appearing behind Mingyu, “I don’t want to eat Mingyu, even if he’s roasted and in slices,”

Mingyu gapes at him while Jihoon snickers. “You guys are both crazy, no wonder you match,” he mutters. Jihoon beams innocently, like the flowers on her head, and Mingyu mutters curses under his breath.

Junhui appears behind Jihoon a moment later, leaning over to whisper in her ear before Minghao appears behind her. Minghao looks sheepish, both hands clasping Junhui’s arm, eyes never lifting to look at Mingyu, who won’t stop oggling her.

Jihoon steps on his foot again.

Jihoon and Junhui purposely sit on either side of Minghao, leaving Mingyu to hover awkwardly until Seungcheol sits beside Jihoon and Mingyu takes the place beside him. He’s opposite Minghao now though and keeps watching her, grinning when he catches her glancing at him from behind the menu. Jisoo and Jeonghan appear after a few moments, joining the table. Jeonghan grabs Mingyu around the neck in a tight hug and asks the two boys why they haven’t been to the cafe lately.

“Jihoon threatened to stab me if I came to visit,” Seungcheol says bluntly. Under the table, Jihoon pinches his thigh. He yelps and gestures wildly in explanation.

Jeonghan frowns at Jihoon.

“Jihoonie, you can’t threaten customers,” he says and Jihoon sighs.

“They’re not customers, oppa, they just come in to make fun of me in my uniform and try to get free food. They don’t pay for things,” she says.

Junhui chuckles. “You do look cute in the uniform, though,” she says. Jihoon glares at her. Jeonghan beams.

“Yes, it’s adorable, isn’t it?” he says and for some reason, Seungcheol finds himself the recipient of Jeonghan’s question.

“Uh, yeah,” he says uncertainly and Jeonghan seems to have a slight smirk to the quirk of his lips, but Seungcheol doesn’t get a chance to comment on it before food is arriving and the MC is talking again.

He talks about the history of the street, of how it’s developed now, and about the sense of community the ball brings. “Also, don’t forget to sign up for the talent contest afterwards! The winner gets a voucher to spend at any shop on Spring Street!” and with a flourish the MC disappears.

During the main course, Jihoon calls Seungcheol picky under her breath as he gives her his salad, because he doesn’t like that particular kind of lettuce. She gives him some of her meat in return and Seungcheol beams at her brightly until she pushes his face away, grumbling.

Between the main course and dessert, the MC claims it to be dance time, and Minghao excitedly grabs Junhui and Jihoon’s hands and pulls them up with her. Mingyu watches them leave for the dance floor until Seungcheol points out that he’s about to dribble his drink down his chin.

Jisoo and Jeonghan hide laughter and Mingyu wipes his mouth and asks Seungcheol if he’s going to join in on the dancing. Seungcheol relents with a feigned sigh, and grabs Jeonghan and Jisoo to come with them.

They find the three girls near the middle of the dance floor, where a small circle has been formed, with guys showing off cool moves, despite their suits. It alternates between the genders, a guy dancing and then a girl.

But when a familiar song comes on, one Jihoon knows Junhui and Minghao practiced a routine to in their weekly dance classes, she immediately pushes them both forward and crowd goes wild. Minghao looks shy but Junhui just squeezes her hand and waits for the chorus to come back before the two of them effortlessly begin the routine. 

Jihoon knows they’re both holding back because of their dresses and heels, but it’s still mesmerizing, watching the movement of their body, the way the music seems to thrum through their veins as they move in sync or in complement.

Along with everyone else, she cheers loudly when the two of them pull away with shy laughter and slightly flushed faces from the exercise.

They try to get Jihoon to go up but she manages to resist the next round and then the MC is telling them to go back to their seats for dessert.

She sees Mingyu’s gaze lingering on Minghao again and she scowls and pulls him away hurriedly, so she misses Junhui and Minghao’s shared whisper before they disappear.

They smoothly slide into their seats as dessert arrives, Junhui easily answering Jihoon’s question of where they went with “Bathroom.” She and Minghao share a smile that goes unnoticed by the rest of the table.

It’s an hour later, when Jihoon is laughing at Mingyu’s animal impersonations in the middle of the dance floor, when the MC claims it’s time for the talent contest. 

The first two are dancers, who were dancing before. A few people recognise Junhui and Minghao and ask if they’re going to dance. The two girls shake their heads but smile pleasantly and engage in a conversation with a few of them.

They’ve had five contestants and the MC is clambering onto the stage to announce the next person when Jihoon tugs Seungcheol’s sleeve until he leans over so she can whisper in his ear, asking him about the last contestant. Seungcheol’s face splits into a wide grin and he nods and Jihoon beams.

“Lee Jihoon, from Mansae Cafe?”

There’s a split second of silence and then Jihoon shrieks out a strangled, “What?” as Junhui picks her up and plonks a kicking Jihoon to the front of the crowd.

“Junhui-unnie!” she shrieks as she turns around.

“Are you Lee Jihoon?” the MC asks. Jihoon sends her best death glare at him before turning around to her friends.

Junhui and Minghao are standing at the front of the crowd, blocking her way back in. Minghao is smiling innocently and Junhui is smirking. “We signed you up,” Junhui says, “so up you go,”

Jihoon gapes at them. The crowd starts chanting for her to go up and she flushes. She can’t - 

Seungcheol’s face peeks out from the crowd between Junhui and Minghao’s shoulders.

“Seungcheol,” she sends him a pleading look. Junhui turns to see him and he looks at her for a moment before he slips between them with a smile. The crowd becomes a little quieter, watching.

Jihoon breathes out a sigh of relief, because she’s safe now. Seungcheol will get her out of here and she won’t have to perform and - 

Seungcheol’s warm hand is fixing her messed up hair and the crooked flower crown.

“Go show them how awesome you are,” he says softly.

Jihoon stares at him and he just smiles at her, so warm and comforting, like a little flower blooming at the end of winter.

“I - ” she starts, but Seungcheol just puts both hands on her shoulders, turns her around, and nudges her up onto the stage.

Jihoon climbs onto the stage reluctantly, glancing backwards while the MC happily announces her and the crowd cheers.

Seungcheol is turning away, trying to slip back into the crowd, but Junhui just pokes him until he takes his spot in front of the two girls. Jihoon looks at the three of them, seeing Mingyu making his way to stand behind them.

“Go on, introduce yourself,”

Jihoon purses her lips and mumbles into the microphone, “Hi, uh, my name is Jihoon, and uhm, I’ll sing Winter Child.”

The crowd cheers. Seungcheol beams from the front row.

She’s nervous. Seungcheol can see it in the way she stands, and the way her eyes dart around a little, like a skittish animal, worried about being preyed upon.

When the music starts, the familiarity seems to bleed into her shoulders, but she’s still nervous, her eyes seeming to search for comfort.

 _Born in the winter  
This beautiful you  
Clean like snow  
You who belong to me_

And her eyes always return to Seungcheol, as if the familiarity of him can ease her nerves. He tries to give her the most reassuring smile he can. 

_Born in the winter  
My lover  
Clear as snow  
You who belongs to me_

Her voice is gentle, mellow, washing over everyone like warm water. Seungcheol hasn’t heard her sing in a while, but he remembers how comforting it is, how he sometimes fell asleep on the phone to her as she sang random melodies that popped into her head.

He sees the way she’s slowly becoming more comfortable, eyes starting to scan the crowd, voice growing a little stronger. He can see the way her eyes are shining under the flower crown, her lithe fingers gripping the microphone tightly. Her blonde hair is practically glowing under the lights, the pale pink streaks complementing her smooth skin, the pink of her lips.

_Regardless whether it’s spring, summer, autumn or winter  
Always clear and clean_

And when Jihoon meets his eyes again, mouth twisting into a smile, Seungcheol realises he loves her. He’s in love with his best friend, and probably always has been.

He almost laughs to himself, because it’s so obvious, he doesn’t know why he didn’t realise before. She’s grinning at him and he mirrors it so easily - just like how everything with Jihoon is so easy.

The Jihoon he’s known forever, who steps on his foot more than she hugs him, hits him in greeting and calls him stupid instead of his name, who helps him with his homework and always listens to him, even if it’s 3am and she hasn’t slept the night before - he loves her. Plain and simple.

Seungcheol loves Jihoon.

Jihoon hurries off stage after bowing quickly, Junhui and Minghao quickly enveloping her in a big hug. Seungcheol offers her a high five, and she grips his hand for a moment before a few guys show up beside them. Before Seungcheol even processes that they’re complimenting her performance, the three girls are whisked away to where they’re serving drinks.

“Hyung, where’d they go?” Mingyu asks, appearing beside him, head craning over everyone.

Seungcheol rolls his eyes, grumbling about tall people before pointing over to the drinks table. 

“They’re at the drinks table,” he says, “I think some of the guys want to buy them drinks, even though everything is paid for,”

Mingyu seems to be watching Minghao, who hovers by Jihoon’s side. Junhui is on her other side, clearly trying to protect the two younger girls.

“Shouldn’t we go over there?” Mingyu asks. “I doubt those guys have good intentions.”

"They can look after themselves. Besides, the three of them are all together, they’ll be fine," Seungcheol says, taking a cupcake from the tray. There's so much food uneaten, it's a bit sad to see. There’s starving kids on the streets and they served so much food for mostly teenagers who barely care and - 

Mingyu scoffs and that pulls him out of his thoughts about food wastage.

"Hyung, seriously, you're just going to let Jihoon-noona be surrounded by a whole bunch of guys who probably think she's adorable and wouldn't hurt a fly in the world? Really?"

Seungcheol just smiles softly. "What can I do? The girl I like is liked by other people too, I can't stop that."

"Wait. Hyung," Mingyu is staring at him, "you just admitted you like Jihoon-noona."

Seungcheol blinks twice. "Oh," he says softly. "I guess I did,"

Mingyu breaks into a toothy grin and Seungcheol shrugs. He knows the teasing is coming, but he doesn't really care. He's pretty sure he's always liked Jihoon, and he’s accepted that, but he has to come to terms with the fact that she'll always have so many guys after her, there's no way she'd see her best friend as anything more.

"Hyung, you're not denying it? You're not going to scream at me? What's going on?" Mingyu's playful nudging is actually beginning to change to a look of worry.

"Nothing," Seungcheol shrugs, "there’s nothing to deny."

Mingyu is grinning widely again and Seungcheol shrugs him off. He watches Jihoon glance at the other two girls before she’s nodding at something another guy is saying. A minute later and she’s accepting a bright red drink from the guy serving drinks.

He knows he denied it for a long time - but that was because he hadn’t realised for himself. He didn’t think Jihoon was anything more than his best friend, until tonight.

He smiles, cupcake halfway to his lips. He wonders when he would have realised if not for tonight - whether it’d be at soccer practice, Jihoon in a dirt smeared jersey, grinning at him after a successful training session; or when they’re studying together, Jihoon’s glasses perched on her nose as she reads her thick textbooks. He wonders whether he would have realised at all, if not for a short white dress, a flower crown and _Winter Child_.

“You’re so whipped, hyung,” Mingyu says.

Seungcheol flushes. “I am not. I - I mean I am, but not like that, I - ”

He stops suddenly, turning around as he feels a hand grip his arm. Jihoon presses her face into his shirt almost immediately, flower crown askew. Junhui and Minghao appear behind her a moment later, both of them wide-eyed and a little out of breath.

"Jihoon?" Seungcheol grips her shoulders as Junhui starts talking.

"She just suddenly turned and ran off, I don't know why. She didn't drink that much but - "

Seungcheol tunes them out, just focuses on Jihoon who is still holding his arm tightly.

"You're crushing your flower crown," he says softly, trying to get her to lift her face.

"Then you wear it," she mutters, yanking it from her pale hair. Her hand just pushes at his shoulder weakly, flower crown beneath her fingers.

"Jihoon,"

"I need to sit down," she says and Seungcheol immediately steers them towards a chair. Putting Jihoon down into the chair soon proves not to be the solution though, as she almost immediately tilts to one side, about to topple out of the chair. Seungcheol hurriedly pulls her up straight, takes a second to decide, before sitting down himself and pulling her onto his lap, letting her lean against his shoulder.

"What's wrong with you?" he murmurs, pulling her hair away from her face.

"Dizzy," Jihoon mumbles, burying her face into his shoulder.

"Is she okay?" Junhui appears a moment later, Minghao and Mingyu behind her. 

Seungcheol purses his lips. "I don't know,"

Jihoon flaps a hand at them lazily. "I'm fine, just, go, have fun,"

"Jihoon, did you need water or something?" Junhui is crouched beside them, trying to meet Jihoon's gaze, but the girl with pink streaks doesn't lift her face out of Seungcheol's neck.

"Maybe bring some, just in case," Seungcheol says, when it's clear Jihoon isn't going to answer. Minghao disappears to get it, Mingyu following. Junhui purses her lips, clearly worried.

"I'll stay here with her," Seungcheol says to Junhui, as if to ease her worries.

"I was watching, oppa, no one spiked her drink or anything,"

Seungcheol smiles. "It's okay, Junhui, I think it's just her alcohol tolerance - it's pretty low. I’m sure she’ll be fine."

He gets a weak punch to the shoulder for that comment, and he gasps in mock horror, and Junhui cracks a bit of a smile - like this is the Jihoon she knows.

"I hope so," she says as Minghao comes back with a cup of water. Mingyu is behind her, following like a puppy. "I'll come back to check on you guys in a bit."

Seungcheol nods and Junhui ushers Minghao and Mingyu away, a reassuring smile on her lips, the three of them heading to the dance floor.

Seungcheol lets out a smile and turns to the girl in his arms.

"Why'd you drink when you know you don't have good alcohol tolerance?" he mutters.

"They bought us drinks and Junhui doesn't drink, and I was worried they'd get aggressive if we didn't take the drinks, especially since Minghao looked a little scared," Jihoon mumbles, "I just had one but," she groans and leans closer, arms going around his neck, "I think I drank it too fast. I feel awful,"

"Just don't throw up on me," Seungcheol laughs. Jihoon's hand on his neck tries to hit him at his shoulder.

Seungcheol just laughs and holds onto her when he feels her slipping out of his grasp.

She’s warm in his arms and he tries not to think about how nice it is to be able to hold her like this.


	3. Chapter 3

“Uhm, unnie,”

Jihoon looks up from where she’s sorting out cutlery to see Minghao wringing the edge of her apron in her hands.

“Your friend… at the ball...” she begins and Jihoon catches on immediately.

“Did Mingyu do something? If he hurt you, I swear, I’ll smack his head and - ”

“No!” Minghao says hurriedly, “Uh, we just... exchanged numbers.”

Jihoon squints at Minghao. “Don’t tell me you like him,” she says slowly.

Minghao flushes and Junhui appears behind her to sling an arm over her shoulder.

“Fawning, more like,” she teases and Minghao elbows her. “She won’t stop gushing about him,”

“I did no such thing!” Minghao cries, but the redness of her cheeks betrays her.

Jihoon sighs, running a hand through the loose strands of hair that have fallen out of her ponytail, but she’s smiling.

“If you like him, then go for it, Minghao. But,” she holds a finger up, “if he makes you cry or hurts you or anything, tell me. I will kick his ass to the next century,”

Minghao beams brightly and nods. Junhui laughs.

“Jihoon-ah, I’m pretty sure Minghao can do that herself,” she grins and Jihoon laughs.

“That’s right. Does he know you’re a master in like three different martial arts yet?”

Minghao giggles. “No. He called me a fairy,”

Jihoon smirks. “Yeah, a fairy who can kick his ass without even trying,”

Jihoon elbows Mingyu in the stomach to get him to shut his mouth, before he does something even more embarrassing - like drool. He doubles over in pain instead, but his eyes never leave the girl in front of him.

Minghao tugs at the edge of her dress, face flushed. Jihoon sighs and leaves him to loop an arm into hers.

“Come on, let’s go,” she drawls, tugging the taller girl to the ticket booth. Seungcheol nudges Mingyu and he stumbles after the two girls.

“What’s gotten into you?” Seungcheol asks Mingyu as they follow.

“Her hair is brown,” Mingyu states dumbly, sounding almost in awe. “She looked like such a fairy before with the rainbow streaks but now it’s brown… and it’s….” he trails off, still staring at Minghao in front of him who’s giggling at something Jihoon is saying.

Seungcheol waits for him to finish, but he never says it, just keeps staring. Jihoon turns around, sees him still staring, and subtly kicks his shin. Mingyu whimpers and Minghao looks over at him in concern. He flashes her a playful grin and she blushes and faces forward again.

They buy their tickets, Jihoon stepping on Mingyu’s foot when he tries to pay for Minghao’s, and stepping on Seungcheol’s foot when he offers to pay for hers. They each pay their own. Minghao steps up beside Mingyu to thank him for the offer anyway and Jihoon makes a face as she puts her wallet into her purse.

“Where’s Junhui?” Seungcheol asks, coming up beside her, as they make their way to the cinema.

“Had to work her other part-time job,” Jihoon answers, “I’ve got strict instructions to protect Minghao at all costs though,”

“From her, or your own?” Seungcheol asks. Jihoon scowls at him and tries to jog to catch up to the other two, who are quietly talking as they walk ahead, but Seungcheol grabs her elbow.

“Mingyu isn’t a kid, let him attempt to flirt,” he says.

Jihoon sighs. “I guess I should give him a chance,” Seungcheol’s hand reaches over to ruffle her hair and she swats it away angrily. She watches them for a moment longer, before she says, “The funny thing is, he’s so smooth all the time, but put him in front of a girl he actually likes and he’s a mess.”

Seungcheol agrees, watching Mingyu telling Minghao about his classes, and stuttering through half the conversation. Minghao doesn’t seem to mind though, just giggles and listens intently, eyes practically shining as she looks at him.

Seungcheol distracts Jihoon long enough to let Mingyu and Minghao sit together, Jihoon next to her and Seungcheol on her other side. Mingyu flashes him a bright grin and two thumbs up when the girls are huddled over the popcorn, and Seungcheol gives him a pointed look, as if to say ‘Don’t mess this up.’

A couple of times Jihoon notices Minghao and Mingyu leaning in to talk to each other, but she’s mostly distracted by Seungcheol bothering her to ask for popcorn, or making commentary of his own. She hits his shoulder when she realises he’s doing it on purpose.

“I hate to admit it,” Jihoon says around her straw as they leave the cinema, “but they actually look good together, and it’s kind of cute,”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mingyu so nervous,” Seungcheol replies, “which means he likes her a lot.” He reaches over to ruffle Jihoon’s hair, successful this time, and she cries out in protest. “He won’t hurt her, at least not intentionally. And you just need to pick up a guitar to scare him if he does,”

Jihoon chuckles, remembering that time she chased Mingyu around with her guitar because he suggested stupid lyrics one too many times.

“True that,” she hums and Seungcheol smiles warmly at her. He sees Mingyu take the chance to hold Minghao’s hand, the two of them with matching red faces and giddy smiles. He glances at Jihoon and wonders what it’d be like if he ever got the chance to hold her hand.

“Hey Jihoon, what’s up?”

“They’re dating,” she deadpans.

Seungcheol blinks, “Who?”

“Mingyu and Minghao. He asked her out today. In the cafe, in front of everyone,”

Seungcheol chuckles. “You sound bitter,”

“He brought flowers and chocolates and everything!” Jihoon cries. “Isn’t that just a little over the top? It’s not like they’re getting _married_.”

“You still sound bitter,” Seungcheol answers calmly, twirling his pen in his hand. He’s been trying to write this essay for an hour.

Jihoon huffs. “She was redder than the tomatoes on the shelf and wouldn’t stop giggling, and it was so cute I wanted to throw up,”

Seungcheol laughs. “So bitter. Are you going to grow old and be a bitter old woman who yells at young couples in love?”

“Are you calling me old, Choi Seungcheol?”

“How did you even get that from what I said?” he raises an eyebrow.

“Go back to writing your essay,” she says in reply and Seungcheol wonders how she knows. “I’m going to complain to Junhui-unnie before we go stalk their date this afternoon,”

She hangs up to Seungcheol’s laughter.

“Oppa,” Minghao says, clinging onto his arm tightly. Technically they’re the same age, but Minghao likes calling him oppa and Mingyu doesn’t want to admit he likes it too. “Let’s have lunch on Saturday. There’s this new barbecue place I want to try,”

Mingyu scratches the back of his neck. “Sorry Minghao, I kind of organised to game with some of the other guys then. What about - ” he breaks off in painful cry as he finds himself on the ground. Minghao is straddling his hips and beaming at him innocently.

“Lunch on Saturday,” she says again and Mingyu realises she just tripped him up and straddled him in one swift move, in his own apartment. He stares at her with wide eyes.

“Uhm,” he hesitates and she smiles brightly at him, but he feels a little scared. “Okay?” Minghao breaks into happy grin, before leaning in to kiss him softly. Mingyu melts into it and wonders what he’s gotten himself into.

At the end of semester, Mingyu throws a party. His parents are away for the weekend and, surprisingly, he has permission for one. Though the permission had been for “a few friends” - too bad Mingyu interpreted it to mean over a dozen people.

Seungcheol picks Jihon up on the way, Jihoon complaining about his slightly beat-up car as she clambers inside. Seungcheol is fixing his hair in the visor mirror as she gets in, scoffing at her comment.

“You always complain about my car, yet always ask me for lifts,” Seungcheol says as they drive the short distance to Mingyu’s house.

“Because you should buy a new car,” Jihoon folds her arms across her chest and it’s then that Seungcheol looks over at her. He nearly forgets to look back at the road as he processes that she’s wearing that white dress again - the one from the Spring Street Ball. She’s not wearing a flower crown this time, and there’s no pink streaks in her hair, but it’s the same dress and he feels a little breathless.

He doesn’t say anything, just drives to Mingyu’s house, parking a few doors down. The two of them get out to hear pumping music from Mingyu’s house.

“He’s going to get fined for noise disturbance,” Jihoon says.

Instead of agreeing, Seungcheol blurts out, “You're wearing the same dress,”

“What?” Jihoon stares at him.

“The dress. You wore it to the ball,”

Jihoon looks down at her dress like she forgot what she put on when she left the house that evening. It makes him smile.

“I guess I am,” she says eventually.

“I didn’t say it last time, but I like it,” 

“Thanks,” she says, sounding cautious.

Seungcheol glances at her and she’s eyeing him warily.

“What?”

“Choi Seungcheol does not just compliment my dress and not want something else. What did you do?” Jihoon says, eyes narrowed. “Did you break something, or forget to do something?”

Seungcheol clutches his chest dramatically. “I’m hurt you think so little of me,” he gasps. “Can’t I just tell my best friend she looks pretty?”

“You never tell me I look pretty,” Jihoon states bluntly.

“Because you always look pretty,” Seungcheol answers immediately, before realising. “I mean, uh,” he splutters, “you know, you look fine normally, but when you put in the effort you can look pretty too…. I guess,”

He determinedly avoids her gaze, but then he hears soft laughter. He turns to look at her and she’s trying to hide her smile as they stand outside the front gate of Mingyu’s house.

“Thanks,” she says, and this time, there’s no caution behind the words, or sarcasm or doubt.

Seungcheol smiles warmly as he pushes the gate open, holding it open for her.

“Hey, Mingyu,” 

Mingyu looks up from where he’s getting crackers, to see Wonwoo hovering slightly awkwardly next to the table.

“Hey Wonwoo-hyung, what’s up?”

“Uhm, your girlfriend is the one in the blue dress, right?” Wonwoo asks. Mingyu follows his gaze to see Minghao and Junhui talking by the window. 

“Yeah, that’s her. Isn’t she adorable?” Mingyu grins, eyes twinkling when Minghao glances across the room and meets his gaze. She looks away, but she’s smiling shyly and leaning over to whisper something in Junhui’s ear, the older girl smirking slightly as she glances over at Mingyu.

Wonwoo coughs. “Yeah. I, uhm, wanted to ask, uh… who’s the girl with her?”

Mingyu takes a few seconds to process the question. “Are you interested in Junhui-noona?”

“Her name is Junhui?”

Mingyu sucks in a breath.

“Ohhhh, no, dude, you don’t want to go there,”

Wonwoo looks perplexed. “What? Why?”

“Okay,” Mingyu says, waving his cracker around, “let me tell you about cute girls who are actually terrifying.”

Seungcheol kills the engine outside Jihoon’s front gate.

"I'll walk you to the door," he says, unbuckling his seatbelt.

Jihoon rolls her eyes as she unbuckles hers. "It's literally three metres, Seungcheol, I won't die,"

Seungcheol ignores her and gets out of the car anyway. Jihoon sighs and clambers out too.

"See you tomorrow?" he says, standing on the footpath, between the car and her front gate. They have soccer training tomorrow afternoon.

Jihoon smiles. "Yeah, see you tomorrow," she gives him another smile and then turns to walk away.

Something about the image of her back walking through her front gate stirs something inside of him, like she’s leaving him. He calls out to her before he even realises what he’s doing.

She turns around to look at him. He's staring at her like he thinks she's going to disappear and Jihoon doesn't understand why he looks so worried.

"Ah, nevermind," he says, running a hand through his hair, messing it up.

Jihoon frowns. She walks through her front gate again to stand in front of him, and pokes his stomach when he won’t look at her.

"Ow, Jihoon, what?" he makes a face at her.

"What's bothering you?" she demands.

"Nothing, it's fine,"

"Choi Seungcheol," she says darkly, arm raised like she'll hit him. He knows she will, but he just laughs and wraps his hands around her wrist easily.

"Don't hit me, seriously," he laughs. She knows it's forced though.

"You look like you want to say something to me,"

"I do, but not now. Another time, maybe," he says softly, the look in his eyes sad. Jihoon feels her heart twist painfully. Why does he always do this?

"Why not now?" Jihoon asks, and she’s proud that her voice doesn’t shake.

"Jihoon,"

"Do I have to call you oppa?"

Seungcheol laughs again.

"Jihoon, seriously, it's fine,"

"I'm serious too," she says. "You always do this - you don't talk to me when things are bothering you. Is it really something you can't tell me?"

"Yes," he says almost immediately and Jihoon can’t hide the hurt that flickers across her face. She knows Seungcheol sees it.

"O-Oh," she says, taking a step back

Seungcheol sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "Not... not like that. Jihoon, I trust you, it's not that,"

She waits. He sighs again and takes her hand, but this time, he tangles his fingers with hers. She looks at their hands in the dim streetlight.

"Because of this. Because I..." he laughs a little in disbelief, and hangs his head. "Because I love you, Jihoon,"

He gives her a hesitant lopsided grin. "I'm so damn in love with you, it kills me,"

Jihoon doesn't say anything. She doesn't think she can speak.

"And I know I'm important to you, but not like that. I... I didn't want to tell you, because I don't want you to feel guilty every time you see me, feel like you have to return these feelings. I just want to be by your side, that's all I care about."

His eyes are twinkling in the tiny light from the streetlamp, but there’s a sad quirk of his lips. “And I don’t want you to do anything differently, but I know you won’t look at me the same anymore.”

Jihoon stares at her feet and tries to find the right words to say.

"Since when?" is all she breathes out.

Seungcheol's mouth twists. "I don't know. Probably forever, but I realised properly last week, at the Spring Street Ball.”

Jihoon purses her lips and stares at her shoes. Seungcheol waits, heart sinking at every second of silence that passes.

"Jihoon, please, just don't say anything - "

"Do you remember Soonyoung-oppa?" Jihoon asks suddenly and Seungcheol opens his mouth before snapping it shut. Of course he remembers Soonyoung. Soonyoung was Jihoon's first date. He still remembers trying to stake out their date, before Mingyu had smacked him over the side of his head and called him an idiot.

At the time, Seungcheol had sworn it was because he was making sure his best friend didn’t get hurt by a stupid guy. Now, he knows better.

"Do you know why it didn't work out between us?" she asks and Seungcheol makes a face.

"How is this related, Jihoon? I - "

"It didn't work out," she continues, ignoring him, "because after one date, he told me that even though we liked each other, I liked someone else more,"

Seungcheol furrows his brows. Jihoon liked someone? Jihoon had a crush, and he didn't know about it? How did he not know - ?

"Soonyoung-oppa just smiled at me and said what I hadn't realised. He spent an hour with me, and at the end, he said it was pointless for him to try, because I was in love with my best friend."

Seungcheol takes two full seconds to process that. "M-Me?" he splutters and Jihoon's face of amusement turns to annoyance.

"No, my pet bunny," she deadpans. Seungcheol takes a second to realise Jihoon doesn’t have any pets, before she’s stepping up to him and hitting his shoulder. "Of course you, you dumbass, God," she smacks his shoulder again and again.

But this time, when Seungcheol laughs, it's carefree and light, even as Jihoon is leaving bruises on his shoulder, and insulting him with very unladylike vocabulary.

He grabs her wrists and smiles at her. He can finally see the blush that tints her cheeks. He was so oblivious before, and even after he realised, he was too occupied making sure she didn’t see his blush, he never noticed hers before.

"Let me go, Seungcheol," she mumbles, not meeting his gaze.

He grins. "Call me oppa,"

"When you're in your grave,"

Seungcheol chuckles and leans over to kiss her forehead.

"Let's go on a date tomorrow. Lunch, since you won't wake up for brunch," he says. “I’ll pick you up,”

Jihoon's flushed face nods mutely. Seungcheol beams, heart singing. He kisses her cheek softly, and it’s so easy, like he’s done it a thousand times before. He pushes her towards her front dont. "Go, otherwise your mother will kill me before I can even re-introduce myself as your boyfriend,"

He hears Jihoon choke as she opens the gate, and Seungcheol laughs brightly in the still night air.


	4. Chapter 4

Seungcheol picks her up at midday, like he promised. 

Jihoon steps out in a short summer lavender dress to see the familiar sight of Seungcheol leaning against her white picket fence, soaking in the warm summer sun.

“Hey,” he greets and she doesn’t even know why she’s so nervous. She just nods back in greeting, shuffling down the familiar footpath until Seungcheol takes her hand, tangling his fingers with her. It only makes her blush.

Seungcheol takes it all in stride, just leads her to the car, and opens the door for her.

“Why are you suddenly so gentlemanly?” Jihoon mutters as she clambers in, and that seems to dissipate the nervousness as they both get in the car and drive the short distance to the local cafe.

After that, it’s mostly the same, bickering about deciding what to eat and stealing each other’s food, but every now and again there’ll be something different - like Seungcheol calling her messy and instead of throwing a napkin at her face, reaching over to wipe sauce from the edge of her mouth - and they share red faces instead of bright laughter.

They buy crepes next door and argue about which flavour is better. Seungcheol refuses to agree that Jihoon’s strawberry is better than his blueberry and Jihoon angrily takes a huge bite out of her crepe just to spite him, glaring at him with cream on her lips. 

Seungcheol laughs. He watches her fondly as she huffs and licks most of the cream off. She’s so beautiful like this, he thinks, cheeks filled with cream as she walks by his side.

Seungcheol reaches out a hand to her shoulder, stopping her in the middle of the sidewalk as he bends over, eyes fixed on cream smeared lips. But he stops himself at the last second and pulls away, apologizing; because he's scared Jihoon isn't ready for that, doesn't want that. He doesn’t want to scare her away when he’s finally found out she feels the same way.

But when finally stops berating himself, he notices Jihoon is completely red and frozen in place, like a robot that’s stopped functioning midway. Seungcheol stares, trying to process this flustered image of her in front of him, and she snaps out of her daze, looking away and trying to hide behind her hair.

Seungcheol finds himself smiling, reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear and take her hand. He knows he’s blushing, but he knows she is too, and her hand is warm in his.

Seungcheol drops her home after that, because they have soccer practice later that afternoon, and Jihoon had kicked his shin when he suggested they go as they are - Jihoon in a summer dress and Seungcheol in a collared shirt (“I didn’t even know you own one of those, other than your uniform,” Jihoon had commented at one point. Seungcheol had made a comment about her dress being short in reply, to which Jihoon had simply stated, “I’m short, so I have to wear short dresses,” and Seungcheol had beamed so brightly as he called her cute.)

As he pulls up outside her front gate, she gives him a small smile. “See you soon?” she asks softly. He’s going to pick her up again in an hour to go to soccer.

“Yeah, see you soon,” he smiles. She nods, grabs her bag and unbuckles her seatbelt, opening the car door to get out.

“Jihoon,” he calls, and when she turns around, he pulls her towards him, kisses her softly, and it's perfect.

(Everyone finds out a week later when Mingyu sees Jihoon kiss Seungcheol before they get out of the car for soccer practice. He lets out a yell, making the rest of the team look at him, before he points to the two of them walking towards them.

“What are you screaming about, Mingyu?” Jihoon rolls her eyes when she reaches them, because Mingyu has only let out incoherent noises and wordless splutters as the two of them put down their things at the bench. Everyone else looks likewise confused.

“K-K-Kiss!” he screeches, “Seungcheol-hyung kissed you! In the car! I saw it!”

A split second of silence, and then:

“What?!”

“Really?”

“No way!”

Jihoon goes red and Seungcheol laughs. Seungkwan is smirking by Hansol’s side and Minghao is beaming like a sunflower.

“Get your eyes checked, Kim Mingyu,” she mutters. Seungcheol hugs her from behind.

“Come on, Jihoonie, we should - ” he leans close, like he’s going to kiss her cheek. Jihoon steps on his foot, hard.

Seungcheol yelps, clutching his foot and Jihoon whirls around to grab his face and kiss him deeply. Seungcheol nearly turns to putty.

Jihoon breaks the kiss to look pointedly at Mingyu. “Seungcheol didn’t kiss me. _I_ kissed _him_ ,” she says with a smirk. Seungcheol is a dazed puddle of goo in her hands.

Seungkwan screams and grips Hansol’s arm so tightly he winces, while Minghao practically tackles Jihoon in a hug, and Seungcheol just sinks to the ground, a happy, dazed smile on his face. Jihoon laughs at Mingyu’s gaping mouth, and as everyone crowds around them, she feels Seungcheol reach over to tangle their fingers together, and it makes her smile.)


End file.
